Reflection #3

Socially speaking, I am in favor of inclusion. I think it is important for children to be socially integrated with all sorts of people who are different from them in order to learn how to behave appropriately in the face of those differences. Educationally speaking, however, I lean on the side of "ability grouping" in almost all grades as a measure of dealing with large class sizes.  Teachers are "concerned that the incentives created by some provisions of the law have elicited unintended responses that reduce the quality of education provided to at least some children” (Papay, 2010). In my opinion, most often, kids on both ends are being cheated out of a complete education. Students, regardless of ability, experience, even grade level, could be successful if it was easy to provide one-on-one time for each.  In my current teaching classroom I do have the opportunity to see children with special needs. Gwen Gilmore states, “If you exclude somebody they’re learning nothing. All they’re doing outside is probably getting into more trouble anyway, whereas in the Inclusion they still have school” (Gilmore, March 2012).   When I get to encounter these children in my homeroom class I try to understand them as much as I can without treating them differently from any other student. I think that this is very important so that they feel “normal” like the rest of their respective classmates. My perfect world would be public school classrooms with a cap at 15 students.  I would feel confident teaching any students in the entire school if class sizes were small enough to diversify and build close personal relationships. Let’s not fool ourselves, this is not a perfect world and all we can do as teachers is to better understand what it is that we have to do make each student learn at the same level without catering to one student’s needs.



Work Cited:

 

Gilmore, G. (March 2012). What's so Inclusive about an Inclusion Room? Staff Perspectives on Student Participation, Diversity and Equality in an English Secondary School. British Journal of Special Education, v39 n1 , 39-48.  Retrieved from http://web.b.ebscohost.com.easydb.angelo.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=15&sid=144ba665-a528-4996-a4c1-b2c00700bbd0%40sessionmgr113&hid=125

Papay, R. J. (2010). Teachers’ Views on No Child Left. Journal of Economic Perspectives—Volume 24, Number 3, Pages 151–166.